List of largest airlines in Europe

The following is a list of the largest airlines in Europe by total scheduled and chartered passengers, in millions. The list includes companies classified as European by the IATA. The order of the chart and its completion goes only up to the year 2023.

Country	Airline/holding	'24	'23	'22	'21	'20	'19	'18	'17	'16	'15	'14	'13	'12	'11	'10	'09	'08	'07	'06	Fleet	Destinations	Sources	Alliance	Association
Ireland   Malta   Poland   United Kingdom	Ryanair [a]	197.2	181.74	160.4	72.4	52.01	152.4	139.2	128.77	116.8	101.4	86.4	81.40	79.61	76.4	72.7	65.3	57.7	49.0	40.5	430	186			A4E
Germany   Austria   Belgium    Switzerland	Lufthansa Group [b]		122.54	101.78	46.95	36.35	145.20	141.94	130.04	109.67	107.68	105.99	104.59	103.59	100.60	92.69	76.54	70.54	63.10	68.06	728	321		Star Alliance	A4E IATA
United Kingdom   Ireland   Spain	International Airlines Group [c]		115.6	94.73	38.86	31.3	118.3	112.92	104.83	100.7	94.9	77.3	67.22	54.6	51.7	50.6	53.3	59.8	61.7	63.2	520	248		oneworld	A4E ERA IATA
France   Netherlands	Air France-KLM [d]		93.6	83.32	44.67	34.1	104.2	101.45	98.72	93.4	89.8	87.4	78.44	77.45	75.8	70.8	71.4	73.8	74.8	73.5	574	231		SkyTeam	A4E ERA IATA
United Kingdom   Austria    Switzerland	EasyJet [e]	86.51	82.8	69.7	20.4	16.09	103.3	88.5	81.63	74.5	69.9	65.3	61.33	59.21	55.5	49.7	46.1	44.6	38.2	33.0	300	136			A4E
Turkey	Turkish Airlines [f]	85.17	83.39	71.82	44.8	27.95	74.28	75.16	68.61	62.8	61.2	54.8	48.3	39.0	32.6	29.1	25.1	22.6	19.6	16.9	492	352		Star Alliance	AIRE IATA
Hungary   United Kingdom   Malta   United Arab Emirates	Wizz Air [g]	62.69	60.31	45.66	21.71	16.67	39.80	33.81	28.27	22.78	19.2	15.8	13.5	12.0	11.2	9.6	7.8	5.8	4.2	3.0	168	144
Russia	Aeroflot Group [h]	55.3	47.3	40.7	45.81	30.16	60.7	55.7	50.13	43.4	39.4	34.7	31.4	27.5	16.4	14.1	11.1	11.6	10.2	8.7	336	189		SkyTeam	IATA
Turkey	Pegasus Airlines	37.48	31.93	26.94	20.16	14.71	30.76	29.97	27.82	24.14	22.34	19.74	16.82	13.58	11.3	8.6	5.9	4.4	-	3.1	112	139			IATA
Sweden   Norway   Denmark   Ireland	SAS Group [i]		21.1	17.87	10.19	8.81	29.8	30.0	28.37	29.4	27.1	27.3	25.56	25.32	24.7	23.1	22.8	27.0	27.2	26.9	134	124		SkyTeam	ERA IATA
Norway   Sweden	Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA [j]	26.43	20.62	17.84	6.19	6.87	36.20	37.34	33.15	29.3	25.8	24.0	20.71	17.69	15.7	13.0	10.8	9.1	6.9	5.1	88	130			A4E
Germany   Belgium   Netherlands   Sweden   United Kingdom	TUI Group [k]		19	16.7	2.02	2.02	26.0						33.7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	133	-			A4E IATA
United Kingdom	Jet2.com	17.72	16.57	15.53	3.17	2.85	14.39	12.09	9.64	6.67	5.85	6.0	5.5	4.78	4.2	3.3	3.1	3.4	3.9	2.8	90	50			A4E
Portugal	TAP Air Portugal [l]	16.1	15.9	13.76	5.83	4.66	17.05	15.89	14.27	11.72	11.3	11.4	10.7	10.2	9.8	9.1	8.4	8.7	7.9	6.9	110	88		Star Alliance	A4E ERA IATA
Greece	Aegean Airlines [m]		15.46	12.5	7.19	5.17	14.99	13.97	13.22	12.46	11.6	10.2	8.8	8.9	9.9	10.1	10.2	11.3	11.1	10.1	67	153		Star Alliance	A4E IATA
Italy	ITA Airways		15	10.1	1.32	—															95	70		SkyTeam	IATA
Russia	S7 Airlines [n]	12.9	15.9	16.03	17.83	12.35	17.9	15.96	14.25	13.15	10.6	10.1	9.3	8.3	5.1	4.8	5.6	5.9	5.7	4.9	100	121		oneworld	IATA
Turkey	SunExpress		12.6	10.7							8.7	7.3	6.7	7.7	7.7	6.7	5.6	4.2	3.0	2.7	68	92			IATA
Spain	Air Europa		11.74	10.03	5.04	4.26	13.13	11.84	10.6	10.6	10.2	8.1	9.0	8.1	8.7	8.9	9.0	9.7	9.9	8.1	59	44		SkyTeam	IATA
Finland	Finnair	11.66	10.98	9.10	2.85	3.48	14.65	13.28	11.90	10.87	10.2	9.6	9.27	8.77	8.0	7.1	7.4	8.3	8.7	8.8	73	103		oneworld	A4E IATA
Spain	Volotea	11.4	10.4	9.4	6.0	3.8	7.6	6.57	4.82	4.3	2.5	1.8	1.4		—						23	60			A4E IATA
Poland	LOT Polish Airlines [o]	10.7	10.03	9.3	4.2	3.59	11.79	10.61	8.5	6.89	5.58	6.1	5.9	6.3	5.8	5.5	5.0	4.0	4.3	3.71	91	120		Star Alliance	AIRE IATA
Russia	Ural Airlines	9.52	9.41	8.49	9.20	5.60	9.62	9.0	8.0	6.47	5.4	5.1	4.4	3.5	2.5	1.8	1.5	1.5	1.2	1.0	47	66			IATA
Kazakhstan	Air Astana [p]		8.1	7.4	6.62	3.70	5.12	4.32	4.19	3.75	3.86	3.77	3.68	3.24	3.06	2.57	2.20	2.30	2.13	1.47	34	69			IATA
Germany	Condor		8	7.0			9.4	Part of Thomas Cook Group Airlines																	IATA
Latvia	AirBaltic	8.3	7.03	3.44	1.6	1.36	5.05	4.14	3.52	2.89	2.6	2.8	2.95	3.08	3.4	3.2	2.8	-	2.0	1.4	32	60			A4E IATA
Czech Republic   Hungary   Poland   Slovakia	Smartwings [q]	8.3		5.2	2.53	1.8	9.6	8.8	8.17	7.3		6.57	-	-	-	-	Part of Icelandair Group		-	-	57	?		SkyTeam	A4E IATA
Russia	UTair Aviation	6.40	6.06	5.54	7.12	4.90	8.09	7.65	7.3	6.65	8.8	11.2	10.4	7.8	5.8	5.2	3.9	3.23	2.93	2.42	66	117			IATA
United Kingdom	Virgin Atlantic		5.3	4.4	1.10	1.19	5.87	5.4	5.20	5.20	5.94	6.2	5.5	5.4	5.3	5.3	5.7	5.7	5.1	4.6	40	37		SkyTeam	IATA
Uzbekistan	Uzbekistan Airways	6	5.02	4.23	2.01	0.93	3.80	3.17	2.70	2.47	2.57	2.63	2.68	2.65	2.32	2.16	1.89	2.07	1.99	1.71					IATA
Spain	Binter Canarias [r]		5.00	4.43	3.14	2.27	4.0	3.6	3.4	2.7	2.65	2.6	2.1	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.63	2.9	3.02	3.0					ERA IATA
Greece	Sky Express	5	4.3	3.30	1.72		1.20	1.00	0.50	0.17	0.07	—									17	43			ERA
Iceland	Icelandair Group [s]	4.67	4.29	3.66	1.46	0.89	4.41	4.14	4.05	3.67	3.0	2.9	2.6	2.4	1.8	1.7	1.8	1.5	1.6	1.5	47	36			A4E IATA
Serbia	Air Serbia	4.44	4.19	2.75	1.59	0.87	2.81	2.48	2.61	2.62	2.55	2.3	-	1.3	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.3	1.3	1.2	34	81			ERA IATA
Russia	Nordwind Airlines		4.3		5.93	2.94	5.54	4.92	3.54	1.79	2.67	4.46	3.59	2.19	1.72	1.19	0.56	0.02	—		26	97			IATA
Russia	Smartavia		3.80	3.24	3.62	1.64	2.03	1.19	1.09	0.96	0.73	0.76	0.76	0.81	1.47	1.4	Part of Aeroflot Group				15	67			IATA
Norway	Widerøe	3.80	3.43	3.28	2.45	1.77	3.00																		ERA IATA
Poland	Enter Air		3.1	2.2	1.72			1.12	1.17	1.11	1.17	-	-	-	-	-	1.2	—			19	74
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan Airlines		2.9	2.25	0.87	0.57	2.60	1.89	2.29						1.4	1.0					32	57			IATA
Russia	Red Wings Airlines		2.72	2.21	3.00	1.54	3.07	2.62	1.62	0.92	1.04	0.92	0.35	0.82	0.78	0.88	-	-	-	-	18	20
Luxembourg	Luxair [t]		2.5	2.05	1.08	0.66	2.15	2.13	1.93	1.84	1.81	1.68	1.5	1.4	1.3	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.2		17	59			A4E ERA IATA
Ukraine   Malta	SkyUp [u]	2.5	1.55	1.08	2.57	1.25	1.71	0.44	—												14	64
Portugal	SATA Group [v]		2.4	1.92	1.28	0.67	1.71	0.89	0.99	0.86															ERA IATA
Romania	TAROM		2.3	1.99	1.5	0.90	3.3	2.80	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.2	2.1	2.2	2.2	2.2	1.7	2.0	1.9	1.5	25	50		SkyTeam	IATA
Russia	Azimuth		2.3	1.9	2.09	1.22	1.25	0.67	0.07	—											11	31
Russia	Azur Air	2.3	1.9	2.1	3.73	1.93	5.79	4.24	3.75	2.34	2.35	0.21	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27
Belarus	Belavia			1.6			4.00	3.39	3.0	2.49	2.09	1.97	1.6	1.3	1.0		0.7				29	48			IATA
Croatia	Croatia Airlines		1.73	1.45	0.79	0.62	2.18	2.17	2.13	1.94	1.8	1.8	1.8	2.0	1.9	1.6	1.8	1.7	1.5		13	40		Star Alliance	ERA IATA
Moldova   Romania	HiSky		1.6	0.8	0.1	—
Malta	Air Malta							1.7	1.5	1.60	1.73	1.74	1.76	1.66	1.68	1.68	1.64	1.74	1.63	1.61	8	37			ERA IATA
Iceland	PLAY	1.65	1.52	0.79	0.10	—															10	41
Norway	Norse Atlantic Airways	1.5	0.98	0.30		—															12	11
Russia	Aurora Group [w]		1.35	1.16	1.07	Part of Aeroflot Group								—
Russia	NordStar		1.26	1.08	1.16	0.88	1.28	1.42	1.4	1.29	1.13	1.1	1.24	1.16	0.77	0.54	-	—			15	50			IATA
United Kingdom	Loganair		1.23	1.29	0.73	0.35	0.95	0.76	0.77	0.75	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	44			ERA
Russia	Yamal Airlines				1.26	0.70	1.75	1.97	1.79	1.45	1.43	1.45	1.3	0.91	0.57	0.5					36	38
Russia	IrAero		1.14	0.98	0.93	0.95					0.27	0.27
Russia	Ikar		1.1		1.72	0.76	2.16	2.02	1.38	0.99	1.08	1.24	0.28	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	29
Russia	I-Fly							1.13	0.75	0.4	0.61	0.97	1.05	0.63	0.41	0.38	-	-	-	-	10	30
Bulgaria	Bulgaria Air		0.73	0.63	0.57	0.51	1.40	1.27	1.24	1.25	1.27	1.40						1.20	1.12		10	26			IATA
Ukraine	Windrose						1.44	1.30													12	19
Ukraine	Ukraine International Airlines	-	-	-	2.79	1.73	7.97	8.08	6.93	6.0	4.8	3.8	4.5	2.8	1.9	1.7	0.8	1.7	0.3		42	80			IATA

Notes

1. Includes Lauda Europe, Ryanair UK, Malta Air and Buzz.
2. Includes Lufthansa (inc. Lufthansa Regional (inc. Lufthansa CityLine and Air Dolomiti)), Eurowings, Swiss International Air Lines (inc. Edelweiss Air), Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.
3. Includes British Airways (inc. BA CityFlyer), Iberia (inc. Air Nostrum and Iberia Express), Vueling Airlines, Level and Aer Lingus (inc. Aer Lingus Regional).
4. Includes Air France (inc. Air France Hop and Transavia France) and KLM (inc. KLM cityhopper, and Transavia).
5. Includes EasyJet UK, EasyJet Switzerland, and EasyJet Europe.
6. Includes AnadoluJet.
7. Includes Wizz Air UK, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and Wizz Air Malta.
8. Includes Rossiya Airlines and Pobeda.
9. Includes Scandinavian Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines Ireland and SAS Link.
10. Includes Norwegian Air Norway and Norwegian Air Sweden.
11. Includes TUI Airways (formerly Thomson Airways), TUI fly Belgium (Jetairfly), TUI fly Germany (TUIfly), TUI fly Netherlands (Arkefly), TUI fly Nordic
12. Includes TAP Express.
13. Includes Olympic Air.
14. Includes Citrus.
15. Includes LOT Charters.
16. Includes Air Astana and FlyArystan.
17. Includes Czech Airlines, SmartWings, Smartwings Hungary, Smartwings Poland, Smartwings Slovakia.
18. Includes Canarias Airlines and Naysa Servicios Aéreos
19. Includes Icelandair and Air Iceland Connect.
20. Includes Luxair Luxembourg Airlines and LuxairTours.
21. Includes SkyUp MT.
22. Includes Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores
23. Includes Yakutia Airlines, Khabarovsk Airlines, Kamchatka Air Enterprise, Chukotavia, Polar Airlines, Taiga Airlines/Aviashelf.

See also

• List of airlines of Europe
• World's largest airlines
• List of largest airlines in North America
• List of largest airlines in Central America & the Caribbean
• List of largest airlines in Africa
• List of largest airlines in Asia
• List of largest airlines in South America
• List of largest airlines in Oceania

Further reading

• "Europe's Top 20 airline groups by passengers 2017; Lufthansa wrests top spot from Ryanair". CAPA Centre for Aviation. 21 January 2018.
• "Europe's top 20 airline groups by passengers 2023: Ryanair's lead is set to endure". CAPA Centre for Aviation. 28 March 2024.